You can automate supplier onboarding without an ERP by running it in a separate tool and handing finance only the suppliers you have approved. Automate four things: a standard request pack that every new supplier gets, a portal where suppliers upload documents and answer questions themselves, an approval step that records who approved what, and chasing when documents are about to expire. Once a supplier is approved, export their details as a CSV and import them into your accounting software, or use Zapier to create them there automatically. oboloo does this with its Supplier Plus plan, at $28 per user a month billed annually with a 14-day free trial; form tools and spreadsheets can cover part of it for less, with more work by hand.
An ERP is good at holding a supplier once they are set up for payment. It is not where the slow part happens. The slow part is everything before: asking for documents, chasing them, checking them and getting sign-off. That is the job of supplier onboarding software, and it works fine next to a simple accounting package.
Do not send a one-off caterer the same pack as an IT provider who will hold your customer data. Group suppliers by risk: low risk (small, one-off), standard (ongoing goods or services) and higher risk (data access, on-site work, large spend). For each group, list the documents, policies and questions you need. Our free supplier onboarding checklist generator builds a list from the supplier type, risk and spend, and the supplier onboarding process guide explains each item.
A request pack is a reusable set of requests you send in one go. Each document request should carry a short note the supplier sees, such as "public liability insurance, minimum cover as per our contract, with the expiry date". Attach anything they need to sign, like an NDA.
In oboloo these are called onboarding packages. A package holds document requests and supplier self-assessment scorecards. You can link a package to an industry, so the right one is suggested when you start onboarding a supplier in that industry.
Email onboarding fails in the same places every time: attachments in the wrong inbox, old versions, and no one sure what is still missing. A portal fixes this. The supplier gets a link, uploads documents against each request and answers questions in one place.
In oboloo, suppliers use a secure link and do not need to create an account. Each supplier moves through clear stages (not started, in progress, to review, completed), so you can see at a glance who is holding things up.
Decide who checks what. Procurement might check insurance and policies, IT the security questionnaire, and finance the company and payment details. If you need a formal sign-off chain, our guide to approval workflows covers how to set one up.
In oboloo you review each submission, ask for changes if something is wrong, and approve it. Every action is logged, so you can show an auditor who approved a supplier and when.
This is the step people expect to need an ERP for. You have two simpler options.
CSV export. Export your approved suppliers and import them into your accounting software. Most accounting packages can import suppliers or contacts from a CSV; check yours for the column format. In oboloo, the supplier export only includes active suppliers and covers company and tax numbers, payment terms and address, plus any custom fields you have added. Doing this weekly is enough for most mid-sized teams.
Zapier. If you want it to happen without anyone pressing export, use Zapier. oboloo connects to thousands of apps through Zapier. A Zap can start when a supplier is added or updated in oboloo and create the matching supplier record in your finance or accounting app. To pass only approved suppliers, add a filter step on the supplier status, so only approved suppliers go through (Zapier filters need a paid Zapier plan).
Onboarding does not end at approval. Insurance certificates and accreditations expire, and chasing renewals by hand is where most teams fall behind.
In oboloo, you can switch on automatic replacement requests. By default oboloo asks the supplier for a new document 30 days before the old one expires, sends up to three reminders a week apart, and flags the document as overdue if nothing arrives. You can change those timings. This is part of supplier compliance, and our guide to tracking insurance certificates and supplier documents compares tools that do it.
Automation handles the requests, the chasing and the record keeping. Some steps still need a person:
You have three kinds of tool to choose from:
Many teams start with a form and a spreadsheet, then move to dedicated software when chasing documents starts to take hours each week.
No. Supplier onboarding (also called vendor onboarding) is about collecting documents, checking them and getting approval. A standalone tool does that, and you pass approved suppliers to your finance system by CSV or Zapier.
Either export them as a CSV and import the file into your accounting software, or set up a Zapier workflow that creates the supplier there when they are added or updated in your onboarding tool.
Partly. A free form tool and a spreadsheet will collect information, but chasing and expiry tracking stay manual. oboloo's free-forever plan covers supplier records, and its onboarding and compliance features come with Supplier Plus at $28 per user a month, billed annually, after a 14-day free trial.
Not in oboloo. Suppliers get a secure link to upload documents and answer questions without creating an account.
Bank detail checks. Always confirm a new supplier's bank details by phone, using contact details you already trust, before the first payment.
